Archive 2010

Team Jebsen Porsche Carrera Cup Asia – Rounds 3&4 Beijing May 22-23Team Jebsen Jumps to Fourth in Championship after Beijing Challenge


The team spirit of Asia’s winningest Porsche dealer team was tested to the max and came out on top after Rounds 3 and 4 of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia at the Beijing Goldenport International Circuit this weekend.
 
Team Jebsen ace Rodolfo Avila of Macau fought hard all weekend, earning the team two fourth place finishes and a good haul of valuable championship points which sees them jump from joint 9th to 4th on the leaderboard.
 
The short, tight, bumpy circuit is both mentally and physically challenging, and never before had 23 of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars competed on the track. 
 
Saturday’s qualifying session went well, with Team Jebsen on the second row of the grid for Round 3.  Said Avila: “We changed the set up a little to better suit my style of driving.  It really made a difference to get 4th place on the 2nd set of tyres, and we were really making progress.”
 
Avila got away well off the grid for Round 3, but the race was an eventful one for reasons way beyond the control of Team Jebsen.  Avila was running in 4th when the Safety Car was called out on lap 6 as the result of an incident, closing up the field.  When it pulled off two laps later, a controversial move by the 5th placed driver saw Avila lose a position. A second incident saw the race stopped, and the results called as of the positions at the end of lap 14.
 
The overtaking maneuver was later deemed to be improper by race officials, and the driver was penalized three starting grid positions for the second race. However, the team appealed and – under the regulations – were permitted to start Round 4 from 4th on the grid, alongside Team Jebsen.
 
Said Avila:  “Normally I’m not the best starter, so it was pretty good.  I could have tried going inside the driver in front, but it was too early to make a move on this tight circuit.  After the Safety Car period, I struggled a bit with cold tyres and was coming under a lot of pressure from the driver behind. But I made sure I held the racing line, so he couldn’t go on the outside.  We touched, and I lost the rear of the car completely and was lucky to keep it on track.  I knew I was defending well, which is why his move was so disappointing.”
 
Putting their bad luck firmly behind them, Team Jebsen once again lined up on the second row of the grid for the start of Round 4.
 
Avila drove superbly, keeping his eye on the prize despite another Safety Car interruption.  As fate would have it, the driver running ahead of him in 3rd had been given a penalty for a false start by race officials and excluded from the results.  That meant Avila and Team Jebsen were on a charge to a potential podium finish until a small error just a few laps from the flag saw them forfeit the place.
 
Said Avila: “I tried to hold my position, but went a bit off line.  I went into the gravel which slowed me down and the driver behind got by me.  It has been a very challenging weekend, but we’ve made very good progress on the leaderboard, and are now 4th going into what I consider my ‘home’ event in Zhuhai.”
 
Team Jebsen will be back in action at the next month at the Pan Delta Super Racing Festival at Zhuhai International Circuit on June 18-20. Background: Team Jebsen is backed by the Jebsen Group. Established in 1895 in Hong Kong, the Group has since expanded its activities into a comprehensive business network throughout China, Taiwan and South Korea. Today, the Jebsen Group is structured around four strategic business units targeting the consumer, industrial, beverage and luxury sectors. 
 
Jebsen is a name synonymous with Porsche in the region, having first brought the marque to Hong Kong in 1955.  Since then, the Jebsen Group has become the largest and longest-established Porsche dealer group in Asia.  In addition to Porsche Centre Hong Kong, the group operates Porsche Centres in Macau, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
 
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May 23, 2010
 
Issued on behalf of Team Jebsen by PR Plus Limited. For further information, please contact Marco Tsang at PR Plus on telephone: 2575 6995 or email: marco@prplus.com.hk

5/25/2010